Lily
by LadyHawk225
Summary: A short story about a past love and loss. PG for suicidal themes. Please R & R!


Rowen left the car without a word to his friends. They exchanged worried glances as they watched Rowen walk down the street and into the cemetery. They all wondered if they should go in with him, but they knew he wanted to be alone. They couldn't offer anything to him, they had no words sufficient to comfort his pain. They watched helplessly as he disappeared from view and glanced at the sky to the storm clouds gathering on the horizon.

"Rowen! Rowen, dude wake up!" Kento shook Rowen roughly, arousing him from his sleep.

"Kento—" Rowen started but stopped and shot up in bed when he realized Kento wasn't alone.

A girl was standing at the foot of his bed. Black hair cascading down around her shoulders and curling slightly at the ends. Her green eyes shone with some hidden joke only she knew about. She smiled at his confusion and then laughed, her perfect white teeth and red lips contrasting against her tan skin.

"Hello to you too." She said with a smile.

Rowen leapt out of bed and grabbed her in a fierce hug.

"Lily! What are you doing here! What a wonderful surprise!" Rowen said as she laughed at his enthusiasm.

"My trip ended early because of bad weather. So I come home early, love." Lily looked up into Rowen's eyes as he loosened his hold on her. He grinned and leaned down, kissing her passionately.

"Well, I, um, I guess I'll just be going now." Kento said. He grinned as he left the room and closed the door.

"I missed you." Rowen breathed as he pulled away.

Lily laughed again and leaned her head against his bare chest. "I was only gone for a week." She said.

"That was one week too long." Rowen murmured into her hair.

They stayed like that in each other's arms for a while before Rowen and Lily finally broke away. She blushed slightly while he put on a shirt and caught her delicate hand in his and led her out into the hallway. Rowen and Lily went downstairs to the kitchen where he sat her at the table and then started rummaging through the cabinets for something to eat for breakfast. He kept looking over his shoulder at her and smiling as if he was afraid that she'd escape from his sight. Rowen was so busy staring at Lily that he didn't even see Sage come in from his morning meditations.

"I see you've found your other half, Rowen." Sage said as he leaned against the door frame, smiling.

Rowen turned to look at his best friend and smiled. "You knew she was coming?"

Sage laughed. "We all knew Ro, we wanted to keep it a surprise." He chuckled at Rowen's happy face as he left to take a shower.

"So Rowen, how has my favorite smurf been while I was away." Lily asked in a playful tone.

Rowen crinkled his nose at the nickname. "I'm fine, although I don't know if I like being called a 'smurf'."

Lily laughed. "I think it's cute."

Rowen walked over to where she was sitting and picked her up in his arms. "Well, I think you're cute." He began to hum the theme song from the smurf television show and he danced around the kitchen with Lily laughing and wiggling in his arms. He set her down on her chair again at the end of the song and look her in the eye. "You may call me a smurf if you'll be my smurfett." He grinned at her.

She smiled at him and blushed. "Okay. I can be that." Suddenly she got an idea. "Hey, let's go for a walk my little smurf." She pleaded.

"Okay." Rowen grabbed a pair of apples off the table and opened the door for Lily as he followed her out into the yard. They walked together across the yard and around the lake, then headed into the woods. They laughed and talked about random things, stopping in a meadow to rest.

Rowen suddenly felt a little nervous and became serious.

Lily looked up from the daisy chain she was making at him in concern. "Rowen, what's wrong?" She asked.

He just stared at her. She was sitting on a large boulder, her hair blowing in the wind. The sky was clear and blue and Rowen could see large white clouds in the sky. He looked around at the meadow. The long green grass was swaying in the wind and daises were blooming all around them. He looked back up at her, sitting there, so beautiful, and he was overwhelmed with his love for her. Tears came to his eyes and he brushed them away, but more came. He turned away, but suddenly he felt her hands on his face, brushing away his tears.

"Rowen?"

Her voice was so soft, so gentle, Rowen gathered her into his arms and hugged her close, never wanting to let her go. He led her back over to the rock she had been sitting on and sat her down kneeling before her. He stared up into her eyes and smiled.

"Lily, I love you so much."

She smiled down at him. Questions in her eyes.

"Lily, will you marry me?" He asked, drowning in her eyes.

He watched as her beautiful hand come up to her mouth and her eyes close, tears sliding down her cheeks. "Yes." She whispered as he slipped a ring onto her finger.

She fell to her knees in front of him and kissed him, her tears mixing with his, the daisies swaying in the summer breeze, and the clouds rolling on in the clear blue sky.

Rowen walked up and down the path in the cemetery. Hardly glancing at the cold gray stones he passed. Storm clouds gathered on the horizon and threatened rain. Rowen wished it would rain. It didn't seem right that the sky should ever be clear again. Rowen stopped at a small gray stone, much like all the others. It lay beneath a willow tree, the only tree in the entire cemetery. He knelt at the grave and placed a bunch of daisies beneath the gray home of his love. Tears ran down his cheeks, and the storm broke.

Lily grabbed his hand and led him towards the path back to the manor. Her hair streaming behind her, she ran ahead of him, laughing and smiling. She turned a corner at the lake and Rowen lost sight of her. He laughed and called her name, but all he heard was the sound of the birds chirping and the breeze blowing through the trees.

"Oh, so you want to play do you?" Rowen laughed as he searched the forest by the lake for his fiancee.

He began to get worried when an hour passed and he still couldn't find her. He ran ahead, along the lake shore, calling her name.

"Lily! Lily! Where are you? I'm serious Lily!" He called.

Fear gripped his chest when she didn't answer and he ran on along the path, thinking maybe she had gone back to the manor already. As he ran, decided that she was fine, probably back at the house joking with the guys about how she had tricked him.

He turned a bend in the trail and stopped short. Skid marks were on the trail, as if someone had lost their footing here. Rowen glanced at the side of the trial. He knew there was a gully down there about twenty feet down. Lily wouldn't be down there. She hadn't lost her footing in the mud and fallen. He decided he would just peek down there, even though she wasn't there, he just knew she wasn't. He stepped to the edge and looked down into the gloom.

"LILY!!!"

Rowen screamed her name to the sky as he knelt at her grave. Lightning flashed and the thunder rolled in the sky. Rain beat down on him as harsh winds whipped around his body. He screamed her name again, and lightning flashed, striking the willow tree. Rowen felt the energy of the lightning filling his body and fell to the ground. He cried her name once more and darkness covered his eyes.

He felt the cool rain caressing his body and the soft breeze blowing on his face. He opened his eyes to his black haired beauty. Her green eyes sparkling with hidden joy and her perfect smile lighting up her face. She laughed and pulled him to his feet. He looked around at his surroundings. The clear, blue sky with white puffy clouds set off her hair and eyes as she ran through the meadow, the grass and the daisies swaying gently in the breeze. She beckoned to him from across the meadow, he paused, thinking of his friends, but blinked away his tears and ran after her laughing.

"Lily."


End file.
